Angry Birds developer Rovio is telling customers in an email that they will no longer support Windows Phones or PCs. The email comes in response to a question about any future products or updates coming for the Microsoft platform.
Also, in a separate email, the same member of Rovio Support notes that they "decided to discontinue development of Angry Birds and Bad Piggies PC Games to focus on providing a better experience for these games on mobile devices." The email goes on to note that digital PC games will no longer be available for purchase or download nor will they receive any more updates.
The last update we saw for Windows Phone came just over one year ago in 2015. The company has numerous titles on Windows 8.1 that are still available including Angry Birds Space and Angry Birds Star Wars, but neither has been updated as a universal game for Windows 10.
Over the last few years, Rovio has hit a roadblock with their Angry Birds catalog. Once viewed as one of the biggest franchises in mobile gaming the company's growth stalled in 2013. Since then, the company has laid off nearly 400 employees in two rounds of reorganization reducing their entire workforce by nearly 50 percent. The company recently reported its 2015 adjusted operating loss was 13 million euros ($14.75 million) compared to its peak of $77 million in profit for 2012.
While the Angry Birds movie did surprisingly well with over $300 million in the box office, the gaming arena is a lot more challenging. Indeed, the torch of mobile gaming fads has apparently passed to Pokémon Go, although it is yet unclear how sustainable that game will be in the long term as well.
With Windows Phone market share at or below 2 percent worldwide, it is not surprising to see struggling Rovio drop support. However, that does not lessen the blow. Nonetheless, the bigger problem now is missing opportunities like Pokémon Go and not games from five years ago.
Thanks, Hesam D., for the tip